This traditional Italian Panettone Recipe was originally a Christmas sweet bread but make it once and you’ll want it on your table at every holiday!

Panettone Recipe

I love making easy and flavorful desserts, just like this delicious Panettone recipe! Originally a Christmas cake, with lots of texture and filled with raisins and candied orange, this simple cake is so tasty and full of flavors you’ll want to enjoy it all year round. I know I do and this is why I’m making this recipe again now.

Panettone recipe is basically a sweet bread that is usually baked in a round pan and it has a distinctive lighter-than-air fluffiness. There are also plenty variations of the classic recipe, some including a plain cake, chocolate or other candied fruits and usually served next to hot beverages or wine. Some even add a drop of mascarpone cheese to make it taste even more “Italian”.

This Panettone recipe might be looking fancy and difficult to make but truth is, this is probably one of the easiest desserts you’ll ever make. It might be time consuming to make but in terms of difficulty, this simple Panettone recipe gets all the thumbs up.

A satisfying, comforting, show-stopping, affordable dessert, packed with lots of flavors and sweetness, this Panettone recipe will have all your guests asking for more!

Panettone Recipe

Ingredients:

4 tbsp warm milk
0.50 oz = 14 g = 1 tbsp dried yeast
4 oz = 100g sugar
9 oz = 250g butter, room temperature
5 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 lemon
grated zest of 1 orange
18 oz = 500g flour, plus extra for dusting
pinch of salt
100g raisins
3 tbsp rum extract
4 oz = 100g candied lemon and orange peel, finely chopped
butter for greasing

For the topping

1 tbsp egg white
1 tbsp icing sugar
more icing sugar for dusting

You will also need:

Panettone cake pan or 20 cm deep cake pan
large mixing bowl
silicone brush
large spoon
hand mixer
small saucepan

Directions:

Grease a Panettone pan with softened butter
Place the warm milk in a bowl and add the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar, mix well and leave for a few minutes.
Put the remaining sugar in a large bowl and beat together with the butter and vanilla extract, using a hand mixer, until light and creamy.
Add lemon and orange zest and mix.
Add the eggs a little at a time until all are well incorporated.
If the mixture starts to curdle, add a tablespoon of the flour and beat this in with the eggs.
Place the flour in a large bowl and mix with a pinch of salt and make a well.
Add the yeast mixture then the butter and egg mixture, folding in with a large spoon to make a soft dough.
Knead for 5 mins in the bowl until the mixture starts to come together and is pretty sticky.
Put the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a further 10 mins, until everything has come together and you get a soft, stretchy dough. Add a light sprinkling of flour to the surface and your hands as you go to stop the mixture sticking.
Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap; keep in a warm place for 2 hrs or until doubled in size.
Place the raisins in a small saucepan with the rum extract and heat on low for about 5 mins or until the fruit has absorbed the liquid; set aside to cool.
When the dough is risen, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for another 5 mins. Gradually knead in the soaked raisins and chopped candied peel. Shape the dough into a ball and pop into the prepared Panettone pan. If using a 20cm cake pan, wrap a layer of baking parchment around the outside of the tin, to come up about 5cm above the rim, and secure the paper with string. This will help contain the dough as it rises.
Cover lightly with plastic wrap and leave to rise for another hour until it has risen to the top of the pan or paper.
Preheat the oven to 350 F = 180 C.
Mix together the icing sugar and egg white and gently brush over the top of the Panettone.
Place the Panettone in the oven and bake for 40 – 50 mins or until golden and risen. Insert a skewer into the middle of the cake to test if done.
Leave to cool in the pan for 10 mins before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Leave to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar.
Cut into wedges to serve.

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